<blockquote><p>Josh Marshall from TalkingPointsMemo:</p>TPM Reader JC sent me to this interview with Nouriel Roubini and Nassim Taleb on CNBC. Here's what JC wrote: <blockquote><p>
In this clip, Nouriel Roubini and Nassim Taleb are still being treated as a circus sideshow by CNBC…
They're predicting the end of finance, and offering the only clear path
out of this mess that I've seen offered (with the knowledge to back it
up), and CNBC keeps asking them for stock tips. It's ludicrous. Wall
Street media – CNBC at least – doesn't realize how bad this is yet.
They're stuck in a bubble where they think everything will go back to
normal in a few months….</p></blockquote>
He hits it spot on. These two guys are talking about a deep structural
crisis in the world economy. And these CNBC yahoos can't stop asking
for stock tips. Really surreal.
I'm watching it again now. This is a seminal piece of video. You have to see it. I'm
not sure I've seen anything that captures – albeit unintentionally –
the vast disconnect over what is happening today in the US economy.</blockquote>

So, the folks at CNBC are completely detached from reality. Now imagine that the Prime Minister of Japan has the same understanding and sense of urgency as these chumps at CNBC, except perhaps he wants to hold onto his seat as long as possible. We could do EVERYTHING right and JAPAN could still be facing a freaking recession like Japan's lost decade, and we've got a government doing nothing. The new budget contains two trillion yen (a bit over 20 billion dollars?) to distribute over 1 trillion yen to everyone (which comes out to 12,000 JPY or about 150 USD per person), close to half the amount (around 800 billion yen, a hair under 9 billion USD right now) is needed for getting the money distributed.

Or best case scenario is a painful recession and our government is dropping the ball. Now the PM is claiming to never have supported the postal reformations that were the main part with which his party now holds a majority in the Diet. Maybe we SHOULD be asking for stock tips, getting lucky there might have a better chance than getting our gov't to act.